Seisenbacher GmbH
Setting the Table for Safety
This article first appeared in the Railway-News magazine, Issue 2 2023.
Ensuring Rail Passenger Safety with Virtual Validation and Testing
Simulation solutions help service provider and railway interior manufacturer Seisenbacher gain valuable insights in the development of its new patented table system. Simulation reduces the need for physical testing, increases product quality and ensures passenger safety in railway vehicles – ultimately paving the way to make every physical test pay off.
What do you need to feel comfortable when travelling by train: an aisle seat with a table to work at? A plug socket? A USB port? Workstation tables in trains (and other vehicles) have become a crucial element that increases passenger comfort, especially for people who have to work while travelling. Since they’re so popular, these tables have to withstand a lot. As such, manufacturers must ensure that their designs comply with quality and durability standards, pass operational tests and can withstand repeated long-term use.
Seisenbacher, a service provider and manufacturer of innovative railway interior solutions based in Ybbsitz, Austria, knows these tests all too well. Until now, these tests only made sure that nothing happens to the table when hit by passengers or objects. But Seisenbacher looked at the other side, too, asking: How can we protect passengers in a collision should they be thrown against the table? Fortunately, train collisions are rare in Europe. That said, any crash is a threat to passenger safety. When Seisenbacher started to include its innovative table systems in its list of interior solutions, the company wondered why no international applicable safety standard existed for these types of train tables.
As an innovative development partner for the railway industry, Seisenbacher wants to go beyond the current standards and think ahead. Thus, the idea for the new Crash Absorbing Table System (C.A.T.S.) was born – a table for the future of railway public transport that addresses passengers’ increasing needs and demands for comfort, design and safety.
